Thompson V. Oklahoma

Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988), was the first case since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in the United States in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a minor on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment."

William Wayne Thompson, a 15-year-old at the time of his crime, was tried as an adult for murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death in an Oklahoma sentencing court. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma affirmed and upheld the decision.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider, inter alia, whether a sentence of death is cruel and unusual punishment for a crime committed by a 15-year-old child. The Court held, in a 5-3 decision, that Thompson's execution would violate the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court noted the "evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society" as a primary rationale for the decision, though this was vehemently rejected by the dissent. The Court noted that numerous U.S. jurisdictions and all industrialized Western nations had banned the execution of minors under 16 years of age. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the dissent, and Anthony Kennedy took no part in the decision.

This case was expanded on by Roper v. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 in 2005, where the Supreme Court extended the Evolving Standards rationale to those under 18 years old.